Pitney Bowes have today released their latest Shipping Index which has found that global parcel volume surpassed 100 billion in 2019, reaching 103 billion. Forecasts predict that global parcel volume is likely to continue increasing due to uncertainty fueled by the global pandemic.
China remains the strongest influence on the market with 63.5 billion parcels shipped in 2019. Excluding China, parcel volume increased by 6.7 percent, from 37 billion in 2018 to 39 billion in 2019. All countries except Japan saw steady growth in parcel volume. Norway’s percentage increase in parcel volume is second only to China’s, with the European country shipping 80 million parcels compared to the previous year’s 60 million. India has the third highest percentage increase after China and Norway, experiencing growth of 19 percent in parcel volume, shipping 2.8 billion parcels.
Key findings:
- China extended its global lead in parcel volume, with 63 billion parcels and growth of 26 percent year-over-year, although this growth has declined from the 48-61 percent growth seen from 2012-16. A CAGR of 38 percent was reached from 2013-2019. China’s parcel volume is more than four times that of the United States, its nearest country in terms of volume.
- United States ranks highest in the Index for parcel shipping revenue at $130 billion. Amazon Logistics is growing in influence and market share, emerging as a major player in the logistics market in the US, reflecting its influence in countries such as the UK.
- Norway sees the second highest year-over-year growth rate in the Index with a 24 percent increase in parcel volume from 2018, with parcel volume of 80 million, driven largely by the maturing of the ecommerce market.
- Italy had the fourth highest year-over-year parcel volume growth with a 14.8 percent increase in parcel volume from 2018 and reaching nearly 1 billion parcels.
- Brazil sees a 15 percent increase in year-over-year parcel volume from 2018-19.
- India is experiencing a CAGR of 22 percent in parcel volume 2013-19 and year-over-year growth of 19 percent.
- Japan was the only country to show a decline in parcel volume at -3 percent, in line with last year’s decline of -2.7 percent YoY, although carriers are seeing a slight increase in revenue.
- The UK saw 57 parcels per capita compared with 48 in 2017, the highest per capita increase over the past two years.
